Research Group on Constitutional Studies, McGill University

Exploring the Relationship of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Scores on Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis Efforts to integrate sustainability into industrial practices are gaining momentum. Adopting cleaner energy sources is one among them. The automotive industry in India has been making significant stri...

Article by RGCS Taylor Fellow Dailin Huang and coauthors, in Cureus Journal Of Business and Economics:

"Exploring the Relationship of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Scores on Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis"

doi.org/10.7759/s444...

YouTube video by Yan P. Lin Centre, McGill University Lee, Excessive Beneficence: Regulating Generosity in the Modern Natural Law School of Hugo Grotius

Video now available:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjIv...

Daniel Lee
Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

Excessive Beneficence: Regulating Generosity in the Modern Natural Law School of Hugo Grotius

RGCS Lecture, November 20 2025

Book launch next week for Disjunctures: Indigenous Redirections in Political Theory (OUP 2025) by Yann Allard-Tremblay. Wednesday December 3, 5-7 pm, Paragraphe

Call for applications: The Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en philosophie politique de Montréal (GRIPP) invites applications for its 2026 manuscript workshop award.

McGill students with interests in the history of political thought/ intellectual history/ international law/ political philosophy. Don't miss this event on Thursday!

A student who registers here and attends will win a copy of Lee's book The Right of Sovereignty

www.facebook.com/events/25000...

(Speakers at the current conference of the PPE Society in New Orleans)

RGCS Lectures - YouTube

RGCS Lectures by PPE speakers

S Ingham, The Democrat’s Dilemma
K Elliott, Democracy for Busy People
K Vallier, From Counter-Reformation to Counter-Revolution
R Muldoon, Harnessing Diversity, Dynamism, & Discovery
M Schwartzberg, Constitutionalism & Local Knowledge
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Important new piece from RGCS postdoc alum Samuel Bagg @samuel-bagg.bsky.social , now Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of South Carolina:

Register here to attend Daniel Lee's upcoming RGCS Lecture for a chance to win a copy of his book _The Right of Sovereignty_

www.facebook.com/events/25000...

"From Democratic Resilience to Recession"

The conference begins on Monday! Keynote addresses by Steven Levitsky, Ashley Jardina, and Robert Mickey.

Tuesday is sold out, but there are still a few registration spots available for Monday: alumni.mcgill.ca/aoc/events-t...

Register here to attend Daniel Lee's upcoming RGCS Lecture for a chance to win a copy of his book _The Right of Sovereignty_

www.facebook.com/events/25000...

YouTube video by McGill University Alumni Freedom and justice in a polarized world

Lin Centre Director and RGCS faculty member @catherinelu.bsky.social Catherine Lu discusses the Centre as well as her own ideas on "Freedom and justice in a polarized world."

youtu.be/Lso9Ew_k5Vg?...

Today!

Vrinda Narain Promoted to Full Professor The Faculty of Law is delighted to announce that Professor Vrinda Narain has been promoted to the rank of Full Professor. A member of the Faculty since 2007, Vrinda Narain’s research and teaching span...

www.mcgill.ca/law/channels... Congratulations to Vrinda Narain!

Yan P. Lin Centre, McGill University Yan P. Lin Centre for the Study of Freedom and Global Orders in the Ancient and Modern Worlds Including: Research Group on Global Antiquities Research Group on Transitions and Global Modernities R...

And here's a portion of what a decade of activity has looked like (though there's a lot beyond the public lectures).

www.youtube.com/@yanp.lincen...

We're celebrating this week with lectures by the two distinguished academics who have served as the external members on our Board.

$3.4 million gift for interdisciplinary centre - McGill Reporter A $3.4 million gift from McGill alumnus and long-time university supporter, Dr. Yan P. Lin, PhD’92, will establish the Yan P. Lin Centre for the Study of Freedom and Global Orders in Ancient and Moder...

The Lin Centre was established 10 years ago.

reporter.mcgill.ca/3-4-million-...

Abstract This paper examines an ideology I call techno-colonialism. I argue that techno-colonialism represents an attempt to selectively reproduce settler colonial practices adjusted to twenty-first century realities. This argument has implications for contemporary settler colonialism, the radical right, and climate change politics. In what follows, I discuss the techno-colonial doctrines of Nick Land, Curtis Yarvin, Peter Thiel, and Patri Friedman. These figures articulate a political theory about exploiting new technologies to escape the state and found new societies. To explore techno-colonial ideology, I focus on Seasteading—the practice of creating floating city-states to colonize the ocean––as an attempted realization of techno-colonial ideals. As I claim, techno-colonialism attempts to humanize the politics of settlement. But I argue that techno-colonialism's ambitions fail, and techno-colonialism fails to create a harmless politics of settlement. I conclude that we should be attentive to the relations of political and economic power in which such exit projects are embedded. Moreover, this paper also promotes our understanding of climate change and the radical right's politics. While scholars most naturally associate the radical right with climate change denialism, the techno-colonists illustrate another possibility. They welcome catastrophe, and see rising-sea levels as an opportunity to start society afresh.

Tristan Hughes, Student Fellowship alum BA '17, now a postdoc at UBC, has a new article in the European Journal of Political Theory:

"The political theory of techno-colonialism"

doi.org/10.1177/1474...

Introduction: Examining the Republican dilemma - Devon Cass, 2025 Lars Moen, in The Republican Dilemma, argues that freedom as non-domination is either 1) undistinctive, involving the same directives for promoting freedom as t...

New by Student Fellowship alum Devon Cass (BA '12), now Junior Researcher at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in the European Journal of Political Theory:

"Examining the Republican dilemma," part of a symposium on Lars Moen's _The Republican Dilemma_

doi.org/10.1177/1474...

Blog - American Society of Comparative Law

Symposium on RGCS faculty member Aaron Mills' article, "First Nations’ Citizenship and Kinship Compared: Belonging’s Stake in Legality”, at the American Society for Comparative Law blog. By Matthew L.M. Fletcher, James Whitman, and Will Kymlicka, and a reply from Mills.

ascl.org/blog/

The Epistemic Case for Federalism: A Framework and Critical Analysis Abstract. Philosophers of federalism and political epistemologists address common issues and face similar burdens in establishing their claims. Yet federal

New from former RGCS postdoc Michael Da Silva, now Lecturer at Southampton Law School, in Publius:

"The Epistemic Case for Federalism: A Framework and Critical Analysis"

doi.org/10.1093/publ...

Congratulations to today's RGCS graduates, Camille Battista and Julia Morelli, both receiving their MA in Political Science!

Invited Speaker Series: Yann Allard-Tremblay

www.ucd.ie/philosophy/n...

Yann Allard-Tremblay at University College Dublin: “A Great Ox Stands in Your Mind: Decolonial Caution about Epistemic Reparations and the Right to be Known”

Cool! Welcome back, Geoff.

I swear, said it here days ago, I don’t have any settled positions on the notwithstanding clause but I do disagree with whatever is said to me about it. Geoff could say ‘I agree with Ryan,’ and I’d argue he doesn’t.

Abstract Longstanding public support for the Supreme Court of Canada is well-documented and contributes to its public legitimacy. However, the sources of this support and how vulnerable it may be to political factors or negative coverage of events are not well understood. In February of 2023, Justice Russell Brown took a leave of absence from the Supreme Court following a conduct complaint under review by the Canadian Judicial Council. Justice Brown retired from the bench in June of that year, before the CJC concluded its investigation. In the intervening period, media coverage of the events that prompted the attention from the CJC thrust the Court into the spotlight. Using data from an original two-wave survey experiment (n = 1,222) from May and November of 2023, we investigate whether perspectives toward the circumstances surrounding Brown’s retirement hurt perceptions of the Court’s legitimacy. We find that the event did not disrupt support for the Court over time but also point to the ways in which opinion toward the Court changed pre- and post-resignation. These findings suggest that support toward Canada’s high court is at present largely stable even in the case of negative coverage of a high-profile event. However, we also acknowledge the potential vulnerabilities that negative coverage of the Court may present.

New from RGCS alum Erin Crandall (PhD '13), Associate Professor of Politics at Acadia, and coauthors Andrea Lawlor and Shauna Hughey, in the Canadian Journal of Political Science

"Negative Spotlight: Event-Driven Effects on Support for the Canadian Supreme Court"

doi.org/10.1017/S000...

This Friday!

Geoffrey Sigalet
(RGCS MA & postdoc alum)
Director of the UBC Research Group for Constitutional Law
Assistant Professor of Political Science, UBC (Okanagan)

Notwithstanding Judicial Review

October 3, 2025, 2:30 pm
Stephen Scott Seminar Room, Old Chancellor Day Hall 16

Now available!

By former RGCS postdoc Xavier Boileau

Multiculturalisme, impérialisme et culture: Repenser les enjeux culturels canadiens à l’aune de l’histoire impériale

2025, Presses de l'Université du Québec

Book launch: Nov. 12, 6- 8 pm, Librairie Le Port de Tête, 269 ave. du Mont-Royal E

Today and tomorrow! Learning about democracy and design from Black feminist perspectives, at the Lin Centre conference at McGill University. @mcgillarts.bsky.social @mcgillpolisci.bsky.social @gripp-montreal.bsky.social @lecre.bsky.social

Reflections on the Anishinaabe Law Circle Learning Course Professor Aaron Mills' two-week Anishinaabe Law Circle Learning course last summer challenged everything I thought I knew about law, starting with the most fundamental question: what is law? Together ...

An essay on the Anishinaabe Law Circle Learning Course offered by RGCS faculty member Aaron Mills

www.mcgill.ca/law/article/...

New from MA/ PhD alum
@rygriff.bsky.social
Ryan Griffiths

"For the Credit of the Sect: Adam Smith's Political Theory of Association"

in _Freedom of Association, vol. 2: Applied_, Luke Sheehan and Kenneth McIntyre eds., Palgrave

link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...